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LETTER: A whiff of Big Brother

10 April 2018 - 05:30

Picture: ISTOCK

I agree with Sydney Kaye’s observations on the silliness of Steven Friedman’s article about the evils of covert or "hidden racism" (Friedman gets it wrong, April 6). However, Kaye’s final paragraph setting out a solution, this being to "have clear laws regulating behaviour, with clear parameters", with a whiff of Big Brother, seems no less silly.

Can one really write such laws, let alone enforce them? After all, the arbitrators would seem to be equally prone to personal bias.

I am reminded of the excellent cartoon series Abbot Ink, which cast a gentle rule over National Party ministers during the 1980s.

Two bureaucrats in formal black coats and striped grey trousers discuss Albert Hertzog, the cabinet minister who refused to sanction TV for a decade lest we be morally corrupted. Says one: "Albert seems angry today." His companion replies: "Well, he has just discovered people are walking around naked under their clothes."

Perhaps in these unforgiving times a little gentle irony can infuse the dialogue with some common humanity.